Jamie Redknapp has called on Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson to step up and cement their roles as England’s top two central midfield players.

The Arsenal and Liverpool pair are expected to start tonight’s game against Norway in Roy Hodgson’s engine room, with the Three Lions coach short on options in the position.

With captain Steven Gerrard and experienced Manchester City ace Frank Lampard having retired and Michael Carrick and Ross Barkley missing through injury, England’s choices in the area are limited, with newbies such as Fabian Delph in the squad highlighting a lack of depth.

Redknapp believes that it’s time for Henderson and Wilshere to seize the chance and really put themselves forward at the future of the country’s midfield:

“At the moment we haven’t got a great deal of options,” he told Sky Sports.

“Jack Wilshere has taken a lot of criticism from certain quarters because we expect so much of him. When he broke into the team as a young man he looked like he was going to set the world alight.

“Things haven’t gone perhaps to plan. He has had a lot of injuries, but started the season ok and had his best game in an Arsenal shirt in a long while against Beskitas. He ran that game, dominated midfield, ran, broke, passed, played one-twos around the box and that’s exactly what we expect from him.

“Jordan Henderson, on the other hand, has been in really good form for a long while. International football is a different set-up altogether for him and I think he’s got to grow into that.

“He has tremendous energy and in the Premier League he is one of the best midfielders; I think it’s important he takes that to the international stage. I genuinely believe he can.

“We haven’t got a lot of options apart from that. Fabian Delph is in there and is a young man and a good footballer, but we do need to be producing more central midfield players.”

England’s clash with Norway is seen as a warm-up to their EURO 2016 qualifier against Switzerland in a few days’ time.